When looking for an olive oil manufacturer, it can feel like fumbling in the dark. It's vital for your business that you work with a supplier who can help take care of all of your needs.

This is why we've compiled a shortlist of all of the things that we think you should expect — as a bare minimum — from your olive oil supplier. This applies whether you are searching for a new vendor or if you've been working with one for years. Making sure that you're working with an olive oil manufacturer who checks off on these four things will help keep your supply chain flowing smoothly.

An order you send to any food ingredient supplier is, at the very least, a gentleman's agreement on both sides. To be able to get just what you're looking for you will need to make sure that you include all the necessary details.

When was the last time you were able to order a shirt on, say, Amazon and you didn't have to specify the size you wanted, color, or your shipping address? You are probably thinking to yourself, never.

Let's begin to look at the different details you need to make sure you are giving your supplier on your PO. In the industrial industry, a purchase order is important, to begin with - it's basically your contract. With any contract, you will want to make sure that you specify in writing the details you have agreed on. You will also want to make sure you've covered everything that could affect your order.

Sometimes the details can be a wide range and you may not naturally include certain information because it doesn't directly affect you. That's why we have created a list of all the information that you should make sure you include when you're putting your orders together. This applies to any industrial food supplier you work with.

As a purchaser of bulk oil ingredients and olive oils, you will find there are some expectations that should be set forth to your oil supplier.

Your supplier should always — no matter what — consider your company needs and goals FIRST and work to guide you to both the best ingredient for your food product, as well as the best choices for packaging, contracting, and other supply chain details. Overall, it should always be a mutually beneficial business agreement. You should feel like you won a great fit for a long term partner!

Unfortunately, there are many suppliers in the market today that can be unaccountable or let their own desires guide their business decisions. And this doesn’t just happen in the oil industry! Some of the worst things you may see would be if your supplier ignores you, they mis-ship product or quantities, if they don’t communicate on backorders, or — worst of all — if they promote adulterating or false labeling to be able to offer you a cheaper price just to win your business. Working with a supplier like that, you’ll ultimately lose out in the long run.

While you’re in the midst of your vendor search, keep the following list of benefits in mind that you absolutely should have in a long-term supply chain partnership.

Centra Foods receives questions from hundreds of manufacturers each year on the best ways to select specialty oil ingredients that fit their many different corporate goals -- one being cost savings, particularly for manufacturers using olive oil.

There are many components that can affect the total price of your olive oil, including the different quality grades, the type of bulk packaging you choose, the volume of your orders, the distance of the shipping point and the experience or business model of your bulk supplier(s).

In this part three of the series, we're going to weigh in with the different factors that can make you choose one supplier over another, and how the features and offerings of your suppliers can affect the total "all in" delivered price of your oils.

I talk with buyers every day who are debating how to choose the right olive oil supplier — and their job depends on it. Of course, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is not the only product that they are debating, but but the analysis process looks pretty similar no matter what oils you’re responsible for sourcing — the biggest difference being that olive oil usually involves importing which can affect a few different parts of your decision making process

In the olive oil vendor search process, you have to uncover a lot of information and answer a lot of questions for yourself. In this article, we’ll address each of the questions below and explain how each suppliers’ answer could affect your final choice.

I talk with buyers every day who are debating how to choose the right oil supplier — and their job depends on it. Of course, oils are usually not the only product that they are debating, but but the analysis process looks pretty similar no matter what ingredients you’re responsible for sourcing.

In the vendor search process, you have to uncover a lot of information and answer a lot of questions for yourself. In this article, we’ll address each of the questions below and explain how each vendors’ answer could affect your final choice.

Have you ever wondered what a group full of olive oil suppliers say when you’re not in the room?

Or how we understand the weight of our own responsibility, as suppliers, to you — our customers?

Or how we look at the food industry in today’s market?

A few weeks ago, Centra Foods was asked to give a talk on “olive oil used in manufacturing” at the North American Olive Oil Association conference. What did we say to this request? Yes, of course! And today I’m sharing an insider’s look at that industry presentation with you.